Door County Triathlon Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Swim start ended up being delayed by a half hour. There was one lighting strike across the bay so they wanted to wait it out. The water the day before looked really choppy so I was afraid that was what we were going to deal with today as well, but the water was nice and nearly smooth and warm! 72 degrees which is supposed to be one of the best water conditions they have had so far for this race.

Just before our wave went off I said out loud "Wait why am I here again"? and got a bunch of laughs around me.

Nothing too eventful about the swim. All the males went first in this race and it's not a looped course so it was a nice CALM low contact swim. Of course since I was in the last couple of waves and on the slow side it was hard to find anyone my speed to draft off of, so it was basically a swim alone kinda affair. All of of caps were the same color too so I didn't get that demoralizing look all the different waves passing me felling that I usually get.

The course although oddly shaped is GREAT! I've never seen so many buoys! Sighting was CAKE even though my dominant side is on the right and the buoys were on the left.

I did get some niggling of legs wanting to crap. I only EVER get that in races. Not sure why. I didn't get any full on cramps though.



Get more comfortable swimming Bi-Laterally. I can do it but I seem to revert to one side and therefore don't swim as straight as I could.

Got stripped by a wetsuit stripper... not cause I really needed it with the sleeveless that I wear, but I wanted the full-on experience.

Oddly, I felt a little more disoriented then usual. I ran past my spot which I don't normally do but it really only took a few extra seconds. I also put on my bike shoe w/o a sock and had to take it off to put the sock on. Then when running with my bike and putting my helmet on I dropped my bike. One girl offered to hold my bike while I strapped it on. Given all that I'm happy it was still under 3 minutes.

Put helmet on and strap right away. Maybe bring a "brighter" towel. Learn to ride w/o socks.

The bike generally is my best event and the one I enjoy most in a Tri. I have in the past tended to over-cook the bike though getting overly excited about it. Probably pushing hear rate zones way too high before I knew better. So coming into this I had planned my pace conservatively not knowing how bad the hills were. We took the time to drive the course the day before and it looked like there really was only 2 moderate hills to speak of so I decided to not hold back too much. All my training rides had been 3:30+ for 56mi to date.

The ride started out nicely on a long 15 mile stretch along the water (beautiful!) with no turns but some minor/moderate headwind. Nothing too bad... I've had races where it's been a lot worse it was just a slight annoyance. Once the headwind went away though it was time for rain! Whee! A good 45 minutes at least of some pretty good rain. Squishy shoe time. Boy was I glad I had both covered my transition stuff in plastic AND brought an extra pair of socks. Yes I still wear socks on the bike. Rain came just in time though for the hills. Two of them but they weren't all that bad compared to the Horribly Hilly Hills I had ridden on and they weren't all that long so it wasn't really enough to get my heart rate to climb too high.

Finally the rain stopped.

A bunny crossed my path maybe 10 feet in front of my bike. I don't know what it is about animals. I haven't hit one yet but I've had several close calls in training rides. At that point 10 feet in front of me doesn't seem like that close of a call, but it must have been close enough that a few minutes later the girl behind me rode up beside me and said "Was that a bunny or squirrel?"... She said she was hauling butt to catch up to me so she could ask me.

At about 1:45 I grabbed a bottle of water but it wasn't time to mix a bottle yet. I only had 2 bottle holders so I was silly and stuck it down the front of my tri-top. I figured I'd hopefully get a second bottle when it was time so I'd have enough to mix 24oz. I didn't end up coming to the next water thing until 2:15 though... but it was still in time to make my one stop to mix up bottle with the now 2 plain waters I had.

Time went by fairly quickly and it seemed like I was making good time. I though I was keeping 17mph+ but by the time the hills came and went my overall average was just under 16.7mph. I probably could have pushed the pace just a wee bit more but l was trying to make sure I still have gas left for the run. I kept my HR in Z1-Z2. Avg 155 which is right between the two. Don't know that sounds like I was taking it easy, but I don't feel like it was...

I only have two bottle cages so I had 1/2 bottle Infinite per hour. I had planned on 1 bottle of Nuun per hour but the temperature was only in the low 80s so I dialed it back to 1/2 bottle of that. Not sure I like juggling 2 different drinks though so I'm rethinking the Nuun. The whole point of the Nuun was so i don't have to worry about salt tablets though. Overall calories 275/hr Infinite + 1/2 Clif Bar. Nutrition seemed to work out well. I left the bike feeling fine.

Lovely bike course. Very low traffic. Not too hard. Not too flat. Not too Hilly. Extremely well marked (Volunteers, Signs every mile, Turn signs, and painted ground markings) Loved it.

Push into zone 2 a little more knowing I really didn't have many hills to deal with. Maybe only deal with one liquid type and wouldn't had have to stop to mix a quick bottle of Infinite at Hour 2.

Here is where I made a few mistakes by not taking my time. I was sure to take my helmet off because I made that rookie mistake my first year... what I did do wrong though was 1) leave garmin on the bike 2) leave salt tablets on the bike 3) grab too many things I had in a plastic bag.

Make a check list for myself. For IM I'll put everything I need on both the bike/run in my pocket and not on the bike itself. (Except the Garmin) Don't bring more then you need. I had too many Gus (6!) which I knew they would already have on the course... my garmin strap w/o garmin, a mini sunscreen bottle. Too much stuff!

My goal going into this was to run as much as I could for at least the first hour... and then see how I felt. I ran past the first aid station (1.5 mi?) and just past that I decided I was going to have a much better race and be able to run more of it if I switched to run/walk. So I did run 5 / walk 1.

Mostly I feel good about this because I was able to sustain that w/o extra walking time (except for the 2 quite bad hills and one extra 5 minute walk to chew on ice after the bluff) However despite that my run was still really slow. I only averaged just over 4 mph between the walking and running which means I was probably a good 1 mph slower then usual. So I might not have had any better of a time even though I was running most of the time. But I think mentally I FEEL better about not having long extended walk breaks.

I wasn't really having too much trouble but around mile 9/10 I was beginning to wish for it to be done. I do wonder about doing that TWICE in a row after a 112mi.

Nutritionally I took in a GU about every half hour but I wasn't great about being exact about the time. I might have missed one or two but I also took some Gatorade so I don't think I bonked at all I was just normally tired from being at it 6-7 hours at that point. I do wonder if I would have run better though if I had salt tablets with me? It wasn't super-hot so I don't feel the impact is as bad as it might have been otherwise.

The bluff... I know some people are going to think I'm crazy... it IS steep... and I walked it... but I really don't feel like it was super-bad. Maybe it's because I walked those horribly hilly hills? ... While they might not have the same grade as the bluff they were LONNNNNG. The bluff is not all that long so really the HR didn't get sky high.

At one point someone drove by me and called my name near the end. I don't know WHO it was. I suspect it was either the CTC people in the other cabin or someone from my Wellfit-Group (or maybe Laura's friend?) but whomever it was THANK YOU! Was really nice to get a shout-out there. Just glad I was running at the time. :)

Running into the finish line was a steep downhill which some people loved but just before that I was getting sore knees so I had to take it SLOW. Kinda annoying.

I run in... they call my name.... I'm Half Iron Baby!!!

Besides not forgetting my salt... maybe set a 1/2 hour timer on my watch, and maybe not go into walk/run so quickly.

Nothing really we went right over to get food. I was Hungry!! Ate a pulled pork sandwich and corn cob which you wouldn't think would taste good after all that, but it hit the spot.


Run training. Don't think I did enough. Weight. I somehow have gained 10+ in the past 2 months. I need to drop 40-50 lbs.


LOVE this race. Of all the races I've done it was the best organized and seemed to go out of their way to make our lives easier. Things like buoys every 150 feet and volunteers at every bike turn make for a headache free day. Food was good. Medal Nice. Didn't like the Neon Yellow shirt, but I bought a nice purple cotton one at check in which was a nicer design. Door county is beautiful and quaint. Very peaceful out there. It was a 5 hour drive for me to get there but so worth it! Might be back next year. I was secretly hoping for sub-7 but my goal window was 7-7:30 and I still made that window despite my poky run. It was a good training test for IMOO, and gives me hope I might just make it. It will be close, but it's doable!